Malahoo Forte chides FLA over ‘revenue-centred activities’
give a statement.
“Whatever was captured on the phone has no use unless we have somebody who comes in and [states] that they were the recorders of that footage,” he said.
Darby said he was a part of a grief counselling session at the Victoria Town Primary School on Wednesday, where Campbell was a board member.
“When you heard the accounts from people he grew up with, it was really a touching situation,” said Darby.
Councillor Mario Mitchell (Bellefield Division, People’s National Party) said mob attacks are dangerous trends that ought not to be condoned.
“It is of great concern to us and is something that should be condemned. Manchester has always been known as a parish of being civil, it is indeed an embarrassing situation,” said Mitchell.
“I hope that the matter can come to a closure as soon as possible as the relevant investigations are done and let the chips fall where they may, because whether the gentleman was a criminal or not he cannot be accosted and the public take the matter of justice or the law into their own hands… It is a dangerous trend,” added Mitchell.
He said for the sake of the family and the community the probe should be dealt with swiftly and closure given to Campbell’s family and community.
Mandeville Mayor Donovan Mitchell, who was absent from Thursday’s meeting, had told the Observer on Monday that Campbell’s death was heart-rending.
“It is quite an unfortunate situation. However, this is not a situation that we can condone as a people. We have to allow the police to do their job… I think we ought to behave better as a nation, as a people,” he said.
MINISTER of Constitutional Affairs Marlene Malahoo Forte has expressed concern about the amount of time the Firearm Licencing Authority (FLA) spends on revenue-centred activities.
Making an intervention during a meeting of the joint select committee of Parliament which is reviewing the 2022 Firearms (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, Malahoo Forte suggested that the frequency of some revenue-centred activities by the FLA, such as registration renewal, could be reduced, to allow it to give more attention to its regulatory role.
“My concern is always about the burden that is imposed on persons – we have to design the system so that it is easier to comply than to operate in breach,” said Malahoo Forte.
She charged that a number of firearm holders have expressed the view that the operations of the FLA appear to be a money-making venture.
“You pay and you get a licence which is for a certain duration, and then you have these annual things for which you have to pay fees,” added Malahoo Forte.
She was speaking against the background of objections from licensed firearm holders to the proposed requirement for all firearms – private and government-owned – to be submitted to the FLA to have an identifying mark affixed and their data stored. The firearm holders have said the provision is unjust, pointing to existing FLA stipulations that the guns bear all original markings of the manufacturer, including serial numbers and all other identifying marks, before they can be registered. They also feel the requirement will lead to new fees and pose a barrier to licensed firearm ownership.
“Many have questioned aloud whether there isn’t a more cost-effective way to structure the operations of the entity to make it less fee-extracting, while at the same time, enabling the regulatory functions to be effectively discharged,” Malahoo Forte stated. In the meantime, chief technical director in the national security ministry Rohan Richards cautioned against a recommendation to institute a 15-day grace period for renewing registration, noting that annually, about 10,000 licensees do not comply with this requirement. He said giving additional time would send the wrong signal. Section 73 of the Bill requires licensees to submit their firearms to the FLA every year for re-registration 30 days preceding the birthday of the licence holder. Malahoo Forte suggested that this is time that could be better used.
“I really wonder, notwithstanding the revenue implications, whether – given the number of license and various forms of authorisation issued – we are not making it unnecessarily burdensome merely because of the revenue, to be asking people to come in every year when your licence lasts for five years. Sometimes we write these things without sufficiently thinking about what it means to administer”.
The minister said while she understands the importance of bringing in the revenue to enable the FLA to carry out its work, given the time-consuming nature of the annual recertification process, the authority could turn more of its efforts to other aspects of the regulation of firearms, which will better achieve its goals.